Crossword Genius

Whip prisoner sporting cut at side of eye (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

flagellate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'whip prisoner' is the definition.
'flagellate' can be an answer for 'whip' (flagellating is a kind of whipping). I am not sure about the 'prisoner' bit.

'sporting cut at side of eye' is the wordplay.
'sporting cut at' becomes 'flagella' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'side' becomes 'stem' (stem is a kind of side).
'of eye' says to take the centre (I've seen 'eye' mean this (eye can mean the centre of something)).
The centre of 'stem' is 'te'.
'flagella'+'te'='FLAGELLATE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for flagellate that I've seen before include "Whip" , "Scourge" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app